Winter Wonderland

All done bar the eating
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

Winter Wonderland - Video

Catherine arrived on Saturday and after a delay picking up her luggage we brought her back to the new house for dinner and a quick tour.

Sunday was an early start as we went to the mountains with friends from work. After a long drive and snooze time for some (but not the drivers!) we arrived at Whitetail resort and spent some time sorting out tickets and rental for all the newbies. Unfortunately I didn't get to ride with Catherine or Helen as by the time we had sorted everybody out and given Rhod some tuition Catherine had fallen and twisted her knee :o( The good news is that there was no break and she is hobbling round at a good rate now.

On Monday we went looking for a Christmas tree and pickled onions, the first was a bit of a problem as most places had closed for the season and the second a big challenge as it's not an American thing. Well, we drew a blank with the onions despite going in lots of supermarkets, but we did get brandy and sherry, but the local school tree sale seemed to have gone out of business.

Tuesday was more successful as Catherine and I picked up a cracking tree at half price at a local garden centre, it seems that most Christmas decorations get put up the day after thanksgiving and taken down on Boxing Day (which doesn't exist here). We popped into Crystal City in the afternoon to meet up with Matt Nurse and picked up a good tip which led us to the World Market and two jars of pickled onions (thanks Andrew)!

So yesterday evening we were sipping egg nog and dressing the tree!